


The Ghost of Bright Moon

by Friendlylycanthrope



Series: Let's Talk About It [21]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Extremely light mild horror, F/F, Spooky shenanigans, Thats right its a proper GHOST EPISODE, The Communications are down, This thing has it all:, Trapped In A Closet, a parlor scene!!!, genre aware, its a ghost episode, mysterious voices...., old ghost stories, ooooh mystery, poltergiest, the Red Herring - Freeform, turn around OH WHERED THEY GO, who said that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-30
Updated: 2020-05-30
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:54:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24447655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Friendlylycanthrope/pseuds/Friendlylycanthrope
Summary: Catra sees Adora not trusting the world and realizes that something must be done....Then, a sudden poltergeist puts a halt on everybody's plans. A phantom haunts the heroes of Bright Moon inan especially tormenting way.
Relationships: Glimmer/Adora, Glimmer/Catra
Series: Let's Talk About It [21]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1714624
Comments: 5
Kudos: 54





	The Ghost of Bright Moon

  
  


As if there wasn’t enough to worry about with whether Adora could recover already, the next morning she skipped her early morning workout and slept in. She was in a deep slumber until ten o’ clock, the kind that everyone was too scared to wake her up from. Not only was it sorely needed, but she would have jumped up with a knife to their throat if she had sensed even the lightest disturbance, not out of malice, but simply fear and habit. Nevertheless, the lack of her routine put everyone on edge. 

When Adora did rise, she showered and dressed for a late breakfast. But the way she made her way down the hall was obviously different. She scrutinized every detail around her, suspicious of every person and sound, and jumped whenever she saw a shadow. But mostly, she stared up at the sky when she could find a window, and waited. Waited for it to glitch, even for a second, as though she were afraid that at any moment the sky would open up and swallow her whole. 

But most concerning, she closed herself off to the people who cared about her. She would hardly speak to them, and avoided spending time with others. Even when she did, it seemed like she was scrutinizing them for inaccuracies as well, waiting for them to slip up and reveal that they were nothing more than an illusion based on her own memories. 

Nobody really knew how to handle the situation, they couldn’t find a way to help her realize that this was real, especially when she pushed them away. 

Catra did what she usually did, and receded into the shadows to hang back as she observed Adora, thinking. She had seen Adora a lot of ways as they changed over the years, but never like this. Never this bad or for this long. When Adora thought she was alone, she would call out “Light Hope, end simulation” before getting huffy at the lack of response and leaving the room. Catra shook her head watching the warrior go down the hall. 

With Adora like this, things would quickly fall apart. Not just for the rebellion, but for the relationships that built it. Adora herself seemed to be falling apart, and although she wouldn't admit it, she needed help.

Something had to be done. Someone had to do something to change this.

...

  
  


***

  
  


With the amount that Adora hated going to the infirmary combined with how she was so keen to put herself in danger, Glimmer had gotten used to first aid in her room with her love early in their relationship. Glimmer was a fast learner, and quickly learned how to care for battle wounds to help her girlfriend. Adora was just wrapping up another such session to re-wrap her wounds in the evening before bed. Usually they did this routine before a meal, but Glimmer had to postpone slightly for personal reasons. Glimmer was busy with something and was late to dinner, but no matter. 

Still, Adora seemed burnt out and apathetic to the state of herself, and instead more focused on her perceived reality. Glimmer applied a salve to her bare back to ease the pain from a laser burn. Her fingers delicately traced over the raised skin, it’s texture dark and lumpy where her skin had boiled and bubbled around the exposed flesh. It was small, but Glimmer feared that if she was too rough with it that pieces of her skin may flake off. She grit her teeth as she pulled her hand away to reach for the gauze. 

“How does that feel, too tight?” She asked as she wrapped up Adora’s shoulder again. Adora sat up on the window seat in front of Glimmer, her gaze looking out the round window. “Adora?”

“What?”

“Is this too tight?”

“Oh. uh, no that’s fine, I think.” She broke out of her trance to replace her loose sleep shirt. Her gaze soon returned to the many colored panes of the large round window. 

“I know that you are still recovering... I just wish that there was a better way for me to prove that this is real to you.” Glimmer soothed as she hugged her girlfriend from behind, being wary of the wounds. Adora didn’t respond immediately, and Glimmer could only hope that she was hearing her rather than spacing out again as she whispered her confession into her back. “I should have gone to that temple and rescued you before it got so bad... I should have known something was wrong. I should have helped you before. I wish I knew what to do now...”

Finally, Adora sighed and shook her head.

“Me too...” She whispered in response to the final statement. 

They sat in silence like that for a few minutes more, not quite ready to go to bed just yet. 

Suddenly, Adora bolted upright and leaned forward as her muscles all tensed up. Her eyes were intensely studying one of the window’s panes, her expression ruthless and determined. Glimmer yelped in shock at the sudden movement.

“Did you see that?” Adora asked frantically without removing her gaze from the glass. 

“What, see what Adora?”

“It was her! Light Hope, her reflection was in the glass!” Adora insisted as she got up from the seat and looked around the room nervously. “She was right there--she looked right at me!”

“Wait, just calm down, Adora,” Glimmer stood and reached out to her girlfriend, but Adora flinched away. It was too late, now Adora was doubting all over again if any of this was real, convinced that Light Hope was watching her. “Adora please, it’s late. You’re probably just exhausted. If you look for something enough, you’ll find it, I’m sure it was nothing.” Glimmer insisted. Adora still seemed suspicious. 

“I’m going to go to my room.” She said quietly, withheld. “I need to think.”

“Fine but please, just promise me that you’ll try to sleep. Okay?” At the concern in Glimmer’s voice, Adora’s shoulders dropped more as she let her guard down. She nodded faintly, then left the room without another word. She did, however, look back to Glimmer for a moment like she wanted to say something. But in the end, she shut the door and and walked down the hall. 

Glimmer sighed. It seemed as though it was only getting harder to get through to her. The more she isolated herself, the less Glimmer would be able to help. It seemed like Adora was a swinging pendulum, waving between two extremes: trust, and distrust. The more she trusted it was real, the more she remembered how Light Hope had made it seem real before, and she would ease back to distrust. She would swing around not melodically in perfect time, but frantically and randomly. 

She couldn’t help going to examine the window herself. As she suspected, each pane only showed the reflection of herself, alone in her room, against the darkness outside. She couldn’t help but reach out and touch the cool glass, wondering if Adora was afraid of her own reflection now. 

With nothing left to be done, she started to get ready for bed herself. First stop was to brush her teeth. She brushed hard enough that she wouldn’t need to floss (a revolutionary idea of her own invention) and leaned over to spit before rinsing. When she straightened back up, she caught a glimpse in the mirror of a tall woman in shadow standing directly behind her, and she jumped and yelled, turning around. Her heart raced, but she saw nobody else in the bathroom aside from herself. She looked back at the mirror in confusion, only to find herself once again, with nobody else there. She shook her head and rubbed her eyes. 

“Okay it’s nothing, I’m just tired. Like Adora.” She told herself as she finished her routine shakily. She teleported up to her bed and tried as hard as she could to sleep despite the hazy apparition she had seen. 

  
  


***

  
  


Catra walked down the hall to her bedroom in Bright Moon castle. Due to her many naps during the day, it wasn’t uncommon to see her up late before turning in. Tonight, she had gotten carried away doing some research in the library after her trip out in the afternoon. Now, she walked the darkened halls with her hands in her pockets, thinking. 

Then she turned a corner, and within half a second saw a ghastly shape of a dark woman with a red mask and purple robes, and in the same instant, ducked back behind the corner, breathing hard.  _ How did Shadow Weaver get here?! _ She thought.  _ Scorpia never mentioned that she escaped... _

She slowly inched herself closer to the edge of the wall, trying to peek around the corner down the hall again. But when she looked, the hall was empty. She should have been relieved that she must have only imagined it, but her nerves were high strung as she tried to think of how this could happen. She turned back again and righted herself, but Shadow Weaver was standing directly in front of her, and Catra yelped in surprise. 

“Shadow Weaver, how did you get here!” She yelled at the woman, claws bared, and taking a fighting stance. There was no doubt this time that it wasn’t something in her imagination as she stared at the witch, standing tall with her fingertips touching gently in front of her as usual. But she did not answer. Catra turned down the hall again, only to call out “ _guards!_ ” before turning back. But this time, the witch was gone again. Catra looked up and down the whole hallway, walking backwards and scanning for where she could have gone, but found nothing. Soon one of the human guards appeared, weapon ready. 

“General Catra, what’s wrong!” But Catra continued to scan around the dark castle walls. She pushed a hand through her hair. 

“Nothing...” Catra said, squinting suspiciously at the hall’s shadows. “It was nothing... just keep your eyes out for anything suspicious.” She reported. 

  
  
  


***

  
  
  


Angella was in the dining room, waiting for the others to join her. Adora and Abner were usually first, but then again nobody could tell what Adora was going to do next these days. Instead it was Catra who appeared. She looked tired and grouchy, not unusual for her in the mornings, but something seemed different today. She was more zoned out than usual when normally she would be highly focused. 

“Catra, did you sleep well?” The Queen asked politely as Catra took her seat. 

“Not great.” Catra said bitterly. Yet for her, to give a straightforward answer at all was still using her best manners. Small progress. 

“Yes, I got a report from a night guard that you were alarmed last night...” Catra groaned. 

“Ugh, it was nothing. No need to make a report of it...”

“Did you have another moment of, what was it that Bow said... a panic attack?”

Catra put her forehead down on the table. 

“I just thought I saw something, that’s all. I was tired and it was dark so obviously it was nothing.” She said bitterly. 

Clearly, this was not the time to discuss it, Agnella realized. If she didn’t want to discuss it, she would have to move on to other matters. It so happened that when Catra made her last remark, Adora and Glimmer entered the room. Bow came in a few minutes after, and Angella cleared her throat to make an announcement. 

“Now that you are all here, I need to let you know that there is an important update. I’m afraid that our communicator has shut down last night. We are attempting to repair it as quickly as possible, obviously, but we are having difficulty discerning what the problem is.”

“So we’re unable to communicate with anyone outside of Bright Moon?” Adora asked. Everyone could tell from her tone what she was thinking. It was another reason to be suspicious that she was still in the simulation. Angella frowned as she realized how it looked to her, the implication was less than desirable; and the pendulum swayed back to the other side. 

“Until it is repaired, yes. I’m afraid so.”

“Maybe I could take a look at it.” Bow offered. “Maybe that’s why my tracker pad has been acting up. Ever since last night, it’s just totally frozen.”

“You too?” Catra said, lifting her head from the tabletop. She held out her personal radio that Entrapta had made from her old recorder. “I haven’t been able to get through to my inside team. I’ve been trying all night to reach Scorpia, but nothing incoming and no signals going out.”

“Okay no reason to worry,” Glimmer insisted, trying to pull the pendulum back. “I’m sure we can get it fixed and then everything else will just go back to normal. There is no reason to think that anything else might be going on.”

“Why did you say it like that?” Bow asked. “It... kind of makes it seem like maybe you already thought something was going on?”

“No. Nothing.” Glimmer said too quickly.

Angella was about to say something, but as she opened her mouth, a blood curdling shriek of terror came from a nearby room. The Best friend squad quickly leapt into action, and went towards the sound as their hearts raced. 

The source was one of the cooks in the kitchen. She was a fey woman with drooping ears, shaking in fear and eyes wide. Another one of the aides, a young human man, tried to calm her.

“Hilda calm down, there’s nothing there!” He urged. She kept looking at a vacant space of air in the kitchen, holding a rolling pin like a weapon to defend herself.

“What happened?” Bow asked.

“What did you see?” Glimmer asked at the same time. 

“A--a gh-ghost!” She yelled. “I --I saw a ghost, floating, right, right there! Then it--it disappeared!”

“But that’s not possible!” Bow said reassuringly. “Ghosts aren’t real, I’m sure it was--”

“What did it look like?” Catra asked, cutting him off. Her face was dead serious. 

“It--it was a tall woman... in robes!”” Hilda described as she calmed slightly. She was still shaking, and looking around nervously for signs of the apparition. “And it spoke!” She added when she looked back at the group. Her eyes landed on Adora. “It said... ‘Adora,’ it said your name!”

Everyone gasped and looked at Adora, who seemed just as lost as everyone else. Even she looked around the kitchen to see if an apparition would appear before her. Angella took control before things could get out of hand, and pushed her way to the front. 

“Hilda, take the rest of the day off. Irwin, make sure she gets there safely, but don’t speak to anyone about these events until you have heard conclusively from me. Bow, get to the war room and look at the communicators. Catra, get General Abner to report to me immediately.”

“What about us?” Glimmer asked, regarding herself and Adora. 

“Come with me. We will meet with the general in the war room. Something is going on here and I intend to get to the bottom of it.”

  
  
  


***

  
  
  


“I used to think ghost stories were made up to keep kids in place, but now...” Glimmer said as she walked down the hall with Adora. Angella walked ahead of them, and the others had already departed on their missions. “I’ve never heard of an actual ghost before, at least not here in the castle.”

“Glimmer, you don’t actually think that it’s a ghost do you?” Adora said skeptically. She was still burnt out and battered from her return from the crystal castle, and it was obvious that she only thought her suspicions about reality were now justified.

“It makes sense... there’s this old story about a Queen a long time ago who died in this castle. They say that since She-Ra disappeared during her reign, that it was her fault. That was decades before the horde even formed. She was hunted down like a witch until she died in this castle after months of seige in her own home. But that was hundreds of years ago.” Glimmer told with gravitas like she was at a sleepover rather than walking the halls of her own home. But as soon as she said She-Ra, Adora was enraptured.

“What? There’s no way that’s true... I’ve never read it in the histories, and there’s no mural for that event.” Adora thought out loud. Every Queen had at least one mural, but usually more for auspicious occasions. 

“That’s because it was so shameful to Bright Moon. It brought bad luck to the kingdom ever since--or at least, until so much time had passed that people just forgot all about it and we were finally able to move on.” Glimmer said. “But I just can’t figure out why the curse would come back now, after all that time…”

“Glimmer please,” Angella said from ahead, where she waited at the door to the war room. “Hurry along now, don’t drag your feet."

Once in, they found Bow hooking up the wires under the table to his pad, which read a lot of static. Right on their heels as soon as they arrived, Catra came with General Abner. The General was off duty when she was summoned, and so only appeared in her workout clothes, with her hair tied up, but the same stern look on her face that she always wore. 

“There are strange things happening, and we need to get some facts straight, before anyone gets hurt.” Angella started, standing at the table. “They may be related, they may not be. That doesn’t matter. Any information we can get will be of use to us until we resolve this.” With everyone seeming to be in agreement, she continued. “Abner, do you have any reports, and strange things from the night watch?”

The general stiffened and saluted as she reported. 

“Your Majesty. There was one report from Catra which was later dismissed by herself. There was one report of indiscernible whispers coming from the East Wing, still under investigation. One report of a rat that startled the West gate team, issue considered as closed.” She explained to her superior. 

“Catra, you saw something last night?” Adora asked. Catra grit her teeth and clenched her fist. 

“It was just a shadow.” She lied. Everyone looked back to Abner for more details.

“According to the guard, you yelled at someone, then called for a guard to your location in the East Wing.” Everyone knew that Catra was not the kind of person to call for help in the middle of the night at the slightest shadow. She could handle herself, and kept to herself, unless it was something she was out of her league in. 

“Was it the ghost?” Glimmer asked. Eyes turned to her quizzically. 

“Wait, since when was there a ghost?” Bow asked, looking up from his work. 

“From like a million years ago or whatever, Bow! It doesn’t matter, it appeared in the kitchen and called out Adora’s name. I think we’re dealing with a poltergeist in the castle.”

“It’s not a ghost, Glimmer.” Angella said impatiently. “We’re getting sidetracked! Bow, do you have any prognosis for our communications table?”

“Whatever it is, it came from inside the castle. That’s all I can tell right now based on how it spreads from device to device. It's not just a glitch, it's been torn apart in its programming.”

“Does that mean we may have a mole?” Abner asked. 

“Wait Catra, at breakfast, you said that you were trying to get in touch with Scorpia all night.” Adora asked. “And that your communications were jammed. It must have spread from here, but why would you be trying to call Scorpia so urgently?”

“Why would you, the ex-horde second-in-command to Hordak, be so anxious about getting in touch with the horde?” Abner asked much more accusingly. Catra stood up suddenly with anger. 

“I’m not a mole!” She hurled back. 

“Then tell us why you were trying all night to reach the horde when our communication mainframe went down.” Abner replied.

Abner stared her down with cold accusations from across the table. Catra looked to Glimmer almost accusingly, looking for backup, but found nothing. She was in hot water and there was only one way out of it.

“It’s because... I saw Shadow Weaver!” She yelled. Bow dropped his work and the Queen’s hand flew to her mouth in shock. “She was in the hall, and she came right up to me. Then she disappeared without saying anything.” She confessed. Adora went pale and Glimmer gasped in shock. “I needed to get information about Shadow Weaver’s last known location, in the horde prison. She either escaped or used her magic from within somehow. But all my communications have been jammed.” She even threw down the old recorder to the table in defeat.

“But, why didn’t you say anything? You should have told us!” Abner returned. “If there is breach to Bright Moon, especially someone of that high level risk, we need to know!”

“Look, I don’t go around telling you how to do  _ your _ job!” Catra argued.

“Yes! You do!” Abner retorted. “Literally all the time!”

“Enough!” Angella yelled over the argument, spreading out her wings for order. “All that matters now is that we work together to bring an end to this, before someone gets hurt. We’ll need to search the castle, top to bottom. And everyone go with a buddy in case you see something. I will guard the moonstone just in case. Adora, you are with General Abner. Take the East Wing. Glimmer, Catra, go West. Bow, keep working on the communications. Dismissed.”

  
  
  


***

  
  


Adora walked down the halls of Bright moon with her sword drawn, but noticed that Abner was still in her workout sweats and unarmed. 

“Hang on,” she interrupted. “You should take this, you’re unarmed.” Adora offered the sword to her, but Abner raised an eyebrow challengingly. 

“Yeah... but then  _ you  _ won’t have a weapon.”

Adora just shrugged. 

“I am a weapon.”

Renee had to laugh at that. 

Then, there was an echo around them of faraway voices. Children, laughing. It echoed around them down the halls, coming from nowhere. They were alone with the sounds of child play laughter. 

“Where is that coming from?” Abner asked, looking around the high ceilings. 

“It sounds almost familiar...” Adora said. “It’s almost like I know them, it’s on the tip of my tongue...”

“It certainly isn’t my kids!” Abner said, walking further down the hall. 

They opened all the doors to vacant rooms, but found themselves utterly alone. The sound grew louder as they neared the end of the hall, almost like they were closer, almost like the sound was coming from within their own heads rather than from the castle. All the while Adora struggled to put a face or a name to any of the voices that were laughing--were they laughing _at_ her? It was so familiar, just teasing at the back of her mind. The laughter grew in volume until they couldn’t hear their own thoughts as they reached the final door at the end of the hall. Adora reached out for the handle, and as soon as she made contact with the cool metal, the sound stopped all at once, leaving only a faint ringing in their ears. They both looked at each other briefly in hesitation, and Adora pulled open the door. 

Inside was a storage room, with old furniture along the back covered in canvas tarps, and shelves with boxes along the walls. It smelled old and dusty, clearly undisturbed for years. Adora hesitantly stepped inside, letting the sword lower as she peered around. Abner came in soon after.

“What is this stuff?” Adora asked. She looked into a box on a stack about eye-level and found old silverware wrapped in cloths. 

“It’s one of the storage rooms.” Abner said. “It's where we keep the supplies for a ball when there isn’t a ball. There’s closets like these all over the place.”

Adora nodded as she picked up a tarp to see the chaise couch underneath. There was nothing suspicious here, no clues to the mystery. 

“But why would the ghost bring us here? What do they want?” She wondered out loud. Abner scoffed, causing Adora to turn around.

“Come on, it’s not a ghost.” She said skeptically. “It’s obviously Shadow Weaver using her dark magic. After all, you heard Catra, she saw her here in the castle!”

“I thought so too, but, what about the spirit of the Queen who was killed here? From a thousand years ago.”

“What are you talking about? There’s no--”

A loud slam interrupted them, and they turned to see that the door had closed itself violently. Adora’s heart skipped a beat as the room went dark.

“Did you?”

“No!” Abner said.

“You were the closest one--”

“It wasn’t me!”

There was a rattling sound as Abner tried the doorknob with all her strength. 

“It’s stuck tight!”

“Still don’t believe in ghosts?”

  
  
  


****

  
  
  


Angella was happy to see that the Moonstone was untouched in any way. Still, she had to keep her guard. With Shadow Weaver spotted and no way to communicate with the other princesses, she suspected that this wouldn’t be the end. As the one out of two people connected to the moonstone, she had the ability to create barriers and shields to protect herself or the moonstone, such as in the Battle of Bright Moon. A time that got dangerously too close to losing, a time she would rather not dwell on. 

She turned back to the castle, the only point of entry to the Moonstone, and stood her ground for whatever came. It gave her power and life, and she would protect it with all her power... and even her life. It was her biggest vulnerability and her source of strength. Looking back on the castle, in the clear midday light with the moons rising behind it, she wondered what threat had come to her sacred home.

She did not believe in ghosts. And she would be lying if she said that she wasn’t afraid of Shadow Weaver... If dark magic were removed as a variable, she would have no difficulty teaching the red witch a long list of painful lessons... Like a lady does... but as it stood, nobody knew the extent of Shadow Weaver's powers. The black Garnet was always the most unstable of all the runestones, and combined with her spell of obtainment and her background as an extremely powerful sorcerer...

Micah had told her about the spell, long, long ago. There was a reason it was forbidden. There were many reasons. 

Still, if Shadow Weaver wanted Adora back as she had before, then she would have to go through Angella. Angella felt at times like she should kill Shadow Weaver herself just for what she did to Catra and Adora, war crimes aside. 

Then, a loud bang and a rolling tremor came from the castle. Angella was shook from her thinking and looked up to see where it had come from. A small fragment of the roof had caved in, and no smoke was rising up from the hole.

She panicked. Would she go check it, make sure nobody was hurt, see what had caused it? Or was it a decoy meant to pull her away from the Moonstone and leave it vulnerable? 

A second explosion from elsewhere in the castle answered her question. Spreading her wings, she took off from the pedestal towards the castle. 

  
  
  


****

  
  
  


Glimmer’s shape appeared in pink light a half second before she did, her form struggling to take shape in the chaotic atmosphere. Rubble rained down and smoke and dust filled the air, making it harder for her to corporealize. She pushed her way through, appearing in a magic jingle, her arms up to guard herself from the rubble. Day moon light came in through the hole in the roof, illuminating all the smoke and dust making it harder to see. She coughed and desperately searched around for Catra as she picked her way around the debris. 

“Catra?” She called out. Soon she found Catra’s tail sticking out from underneath a giant sheet of concrete wall. “Catra!” Glimmer's heart stopped and she heard her heart pounding in her ears. 

She started to dig her way out from the hole when a gleaming white and golden warrior appeared before her.

“What happened?” She-Ra asked. “Are you alright? Where’s Catra?”

“Over here, help me!”

She-Ra leapt over the piles of debris to meet Glimmer, and quickly analyzed the situation while she helped lift up the wall. 

“A beam fell and it tore down the roof,” Glimmer explained as she pushed rocks of concrete to the side. “It hit Catra,”

“Your Highness, are you alright?!” Abner called from the same direction that Adora had come from. With more roof cleared out, She-Ra hefted the slab up higher, and Glimmer was finally able to teleport in to retrieve the unconscious feline. She-Ra dropped the segment again with a crash.

“Is everyone alright?” Angella asked, flying up to the hole in the ceiling and wall. She surveyed the scene with a critical eye, landing on Catra with worry. “Glimmer, get her to--”

“I know, mom!” Glimmer yelled back as she vanished; presumably to get Catra to the medics while the others cleared out on their own and checked for other people that may have been injured. 

When they rejoined in the infirmary in the upper levels of the castle, Catra was still alive, but still unconscious. She lay in a bed with bandages and a special stabilizing medical helmet around her head, which had taken a hard blow. Her forearm was wrapped up, lightly fractured but not broken. Nobody else had been injured, only Catra. 

“She was hit on the head,” Glimmer explained to Adora and the Queen. Abner scrambled the guard militia to assure the safety of the royal family and to take care of the section of castle that had collapsed. It was extremely contained, especially for how destructive it had been. “She might be unconscious for a while, but it’s totally recoverable. We just have to wait because well... normally it would be easy to fix with magic but... All the electric and magic equipment that they would use has gone offline.” She said almost nervously. Catra sat on the bed unmoving.

“But what about the second, smaller explosion?” Angella asked.

“That was me,” Adora said guiltily. “The general and I got locked into a supply room, I had to transform and break down the door as soon as I heard the first explosion. We went as fast as we could.”

Angella sighed with stress under the weight of what was happening, shaking her head. 

“Guard!” She called to the soldier standing at the door. She straightened and saluted in response. “Make sure four guards are in the room with her until she wakes. And another two at the door.” Turning back to Adora and Glimmer, she explained. “First she saw Shadow Weaver and now this. It may have been deliberate. I’m not taking any chances.”

“Before Catra left the Fright Zone, the horde was in better shape to win the war than they ever were before. Then she defected and now the rebellion is winning.” Adora thought out loud. “She’s the best strategist Etheria has ever seen... it could be an attack against her.” She concluded fearfully. The pendulum moved towards trust in the strange circumstances they found themselves in. Glimmer looked back to the bed where Catra rested. Even asleep, her brows were knitted together in stress and anger. 

“Wait!” She suddenly turned back to her mother and girlfriend. “Where is Bow?” Angella gasped. 

“We haven’t seen him since the communicator...” 

They all ran for the stairs to the main castle. As soon as they broke free into the open corridor, they were met with a tall woman at the end of the hall, facing away from them. She wore robes, but her whole face and body were covered in shadow from the bright light of the window at the end of the hallway. Adora froze in her tracks, they all stopped as their blood ran cold at the ghastly sight. She appeared in shadow but almost like she was partly transparent. She started to turn her head slowly, then vanished in the blink of an eye. 

“W-was that her?” Glimmer asked with an uncharacteristically trembling voice. It wasn’t in her to show fear, but she was covered in an ice cold sweat. They all stared down the hall unblinking, afraid that she would appear again at any moment. It was Angella who got to her senses first. 

“I’m going to Bow in the war room. Glimmer, get Adora away from here.”

“What, wai--” Adora protested, but Glimmer’s hand came to her shoulder and they vanished. 

She inhaled sharply when she opened her eyes to a new location. Teleporting, especially when she had no warning and couldn’t anticipate it, always had a way of knocking the breath out of her and making her dizzy. She rubbed the pink sparkles away from her eyes and looked around. They were in some sort of locker room that Adora recognized. She looked out the window on the door and realized that they were near the barracks. They were in the changing room for the duty soldiers, with the armory right outside on one side and the gym on the other side. 

“Glimmer!” She whirled around accusingly to her girlfriend. “Why are we here-- we should be helping!”

“I won’t let her get you, Adora!” Glimmer yelled back, grabbing Adora’s shoulders. “Not again!”

Adora was about to yell back, but tripped on her own train of thought.

“ _Again?_ ” She asked. Glimmer’s face became panicked as she realized her mistake. “There is no ghost, is there?” She said her voice raising again. “You know something, I don’t know what, but you're keeping it from me!”

Glimmer didn’t know what to say. She opened her mouth to speak, but she saw something through the window over Adora’s shoulder. The light at the farthest end of the hall went out. Then the next, and the next, getting closer to them. Adora saw that Glimmer had seen something, and turned and saw it herself. 

Glimmer grabbed Adora’s wrist to take her and run the other way, but Adora resisted, pulling back. 

“Adora, we have to go!” She pleaded. But Adora looked at her with an ice cold glare. 

“You know what this is, don’t you?” Adora accused. “You’ve known this whole time-- and we’ve been running in circles!”

“Adora, please--!” The room was plunged into darkness as the overhead lights flickered out. The light from the window illuminated them enough to see.

“Tell me what is going on!” She demanded. The pendulum was unbalanced, and panicked. 

The door behind her flung open all on its own. Then sparks started flying out of the electrical wires that held up the lights above them, raining down hot sparks. The sparks became burning hot embers on the wooden floor beneath them. Glimmer feared for her life and Adora’s, but she wouldn’t move as long as she thought that this wasn’t real. How many times had she died in the simulations? How many times did she have to kill herself to get out?

_ ADORRAA _ a warped and garbled voice called out in the sounds of sparks and fire. It was in the sound of the moaning walls, the hiss of embers and the buzz of electricity. 

Ȁ̴̧̡̢̛͙̱͖̤̦̹͓̹̫̗̍̔̀̋͒͐̍̆͐̑̚̚̕D̷̦͍̯̦͓̝͉̝̟̣̫͊̍̊̓͒͐̿̀̏́̑́͘Ò̷̡͎̰̫̬̲̳̩͓͎̼̿͝R̶̢̢͚̰͖̝͚̮̟̩̗͎̲̳͒̇̎́̎̍̑̆Ạ̸̢̢̛̰͙̺͛͂̅̊͗̇̽̒̚͠ it moaned louder, trying harder through the glitches. 

She looked back at Adora with tears streaming down her face. Using her free hand that wasn’t on Adora’s arm, she cupped Adora’s cheek at the thought of her lover fading to nothing, whether it was real or not. 

“I’m so sorry. I’m sorry, Adora, it’s all my fault.” She cried. “But I can fix this.”

Adora reached up to Glimmer’s hand that was on her face, a quizzical and desperate look on her face. 

“You need to run.” She said as she disappeared. Adora looked at the place where she had been, saw the chaos around her, and couldn’t seem to breath. She panted heavily as though she were running, but she stood still in the locker room as the armory outside clattered mindlessly. Her feet seemed stuck to the ground as she panicked. What was real? Was this real, was the danger real? Was it all fake? 

She turned around slowly, afraid of what she would see, and heartbroken to see that she was right.

  
  
  


***

  
  


Glimmer appeared in her own bedroom, shaking like a leaf in the wind. The sky outside was becoming obscured by clouds and maybe it was a coincidence or maybe it was all part of what was happening to the castle. The room became darker as she frantically went to her desk. It took several tries to grasp the key in her hand as she kept dropping it in panic. When she held it, she turned around and was met with a tall woman in dark shadow looking down at her, inches in front of her. 

  
  


***

  
  
  


Adora took the advice and ran. It wasn’t safe here, she kept trying to find anyone who could help her, anywhere that there were lights that were still on to outrun her influence. 

“Light Hope, end simulation!” She screamed out, but her cries echoed around her hauntingly. “Light Hope, end simulation!” She shrieked. She didn’t know where she was anymore, just dark hallways with no light, with shadows bending and warping around her feet; or perhaps it was the tears in her eyes that were blurring her vision. She charged on blindly.

She tripped and fell on nothing, tumbling to a stop on the floor. She made the mistake of looking over her shoulder. The tall figure that had been stalking her floated closer, not touching the ground. She flickered in and out of vision like the flickering lights, as she struggled to keep up with Adora. All the while, her silhouette didn’t move an inch, but remained calm and composed. She flickered closer and Adora’s heart stopped when she appeared closer again. Her voice reached out across the distance between them, garbled and warped and technological.

_ A̸̞͎̪̭̞̫͖̩̹͋͆̃̑̎̂͋̈́̆̌͌̇͒͘͜͝D̵̥͈͉͖̼̦͆̾̌ͅƠ̷̙͍̝̆́̒̀̊́̋̏͛̚͝Ŗ̵͖͉̩̈̒̋̈͌͗͑̏͜͝A̸̛̗̱͍̠̔̈́͊̒͗͌̌͑̋̅̚̕͝ ̸̦̯̗̩̎͊̈́́̐͑̋͌́͘͝͝ ̵̖͉̲͖̺̼̜͍̺̭͇̣̓̑͐̊̌̃͜͜͝ ̵͈̘̰̲̮͓͍̬͚̟̪̇͋͆̿͊̓̃̍̃̓̿͘̚͘ͅ ̷̨̜͔͕̺̦̝̩̬͑͆ ̴̛̯͈͖̱̟̗̩̬̻̼̈́̿̌́R̵̭̃͛́̉e̵̡̛̖̼̐͂͑̌̽͂̎̚̚͝ ̷̨̠̳̻̤͍̞͚̘̻̦̥̈́͒̋̉̑̿T̸̨̲̮͕̪̜̱̼̩̼̩̝͖̊̀͘Ŭ̷͕̮̠̮̑͂̃̐̊̊̌̽͝r̸͈̞͋̀͒̂͗͛̋͝͝ͅn̶̥̜͔̬̯͓͚̙̼̼̥̪̹̖̈́̒̉̊ _

Re TU r N  
  


***

  
  


Glimmer teleported out of the way, as she always did when facing an enemy unexpectedly. She reappeared across the room, and the phantom was gone from where it had been. But her face, now clear, appeared on every reflective surface, and looked directly at her with intent like she was staring into her soul. Glimmer yelled in surprise, her heart racing against her chest sounding hard in her ears. But she held tight to the key, and ran over to the wall of her room. 

She reached for one of the sconces, but suddenly it started glowing with light again, then overloaded to a harshly bright light she could hardly even look at. She still reached for it despite the growing light and thrum of electricity, her hand burning on contact with it. She withdrew her hand immediately in pain, then bravely reached in again. Her hand hissed with heat as she pushed the sconce upwards, revealing a keyhole. She shoved the key in sloppily and yelled out in burning pain as she turned it. The wall shuddered as it unlocked to her secret private armory and she released the wall. She knew who she would find inside. 

  
  


***

  
  


Adora backed away from the phantom, scrambling backwards on the floor with her hands as sweat poured over her brow. She could see straight through the transparent body of the blue phantom that tried to reach her. It warped with the wind, shadows forming and reforming before her.

“End simulation! End simulation!” She called out, eyes fixed on the ghost ahead of her. “Administrator detected! Eternia! She-Ra! End simulation! Administrator!” She screamed desperately. “Administrator, end simulation!” Her already frail and broken body quivered with fear as a corrupted version of Light Hope approached her, unblinking and stoic. She was glowing a barely noticeable blue light, her eyes glowing like the robot spiders. Adora’s back hit a wall, she had nowhere else left to run. 

_ ADORA, _ Her voice usually monotone, gave in to a static sound now like computer interference.  _ RETURN...  _ She reached out a hand, and Adora raised her arms to her face in protection...

And nothing happened. The sounds ceased, the lights blinked once before going out. Adora opened one eye hesitantly, and saw that the phantom was gone. The hall was empty. The blue light had disappeared. 

***

Glimmer fell to her knees in exhaustion on the ground of the secret armory that she had hidden in her room from her mother. It was no longer a secret, but it was still hidden. In her shaking hands, she held a data crystal, large and square, light blue, which she had just clawed free from its place in a drawer, where wires thin as threads grew out like roots.

It was separated now. It was over. 

  
  


***

  
  


Adora sat up as she realized that the hallway was returning to normal, the ghost was gone in its critical moment. She slowly stood up as though in a daze, supporting herself against the wall. Her chest heaved for breath she couldn't seem to find. 

Medical machines whirred to life and began their start up sequence. Catra groaned in her bed in pain, or possibly annoyance. 

The communicator table went blank of its static, going dark for a moment. Bow froze, wondering if he did something wrong, but then it began to reboot itself to his astonishment and delight. 

***

Adora sat on a stool in the infirmary. One of the guards helped her down there to get some medicine to help calm her frayed nerves, and she was still coming down from the high of her panic. Around her soon were gathered all those involved in the poltergeist: Bow, Queen Angella, General Abner, and Glimmer. Glimmer was the last to appear, and all eyes went to her when she entered. Adora finally looked up.

Glimmer swallowed nervously, and walked in with the disk in her hand. She held it out to Adora.

“I’m sorry.” She said. “I never meant for this to happen, Adora. But this, is--”

“Light Hope,” Adora gasped, taking the disc. The large square was about eight inches and shimmering blue. She read the engravings on it, complex First Ones runes. “This is Light Hope...” She stood up in shock of what she held in her hand. It was the data crystal that contained Light Hope. “Glim, your hand,”

“It’s nothing.” Glimmer said, brushing off the comment about the burn mark on her palm.

“So it never was Shadow Weaver?” Abner thought out loud. 

“She must have taken over control of the castle just like the crystal palace...” Bow realized, looking up from his pad. “She was controlling it like a giant mainframe. But... how did it --or, she?--get here?” 

Adora looked away from the disk in her hands and back to Glimmer. Glimmer was squirming in her guilt but faced the music as bravely as she did everything. 

“You and Catra. You were both late to dinner last night.” Adora said. She remembered Glimmer helping with her wounds late at night rather than before dinner as they usually did. Catra was also late to dinner. At the time it was a harmless coincidence. Glimmer sighed. 

“Catra and I went to the temple... she wanted to get Light Hope’s data crystal, it was all her idea to help you realize that... that this was finally the real world. That you made it out. But she needed my help teleporting in and out since the castle locks down for intruders...”

“Glimmer...” Angella said softly. She couldn’t believe it. 

“She wanted to destroy it...” Glimmer continued as tears filled her eyes. “But I thought we would need help from Light Hope again in the future. It’s because of her that we were able to cure you from the leech...”

Because of what Light Hope had once told them, Swift Wind specifically, they were able to cure Adora of a deadly disease which brought Catra to live with them months ago. Adora was a First One. This was common knowledge amongst the group by now. She was an alien from another planet, and Light Hope was the only connection to that planet that was left standing. They just still didn’t know anything about how to heal her of a disease that didn’t exist in regular Etherian blood.

“So it _was_ targeting Catra.” Bow said softly, looking down at the concussed soldier they were waiting to wake up. 

“She confronted me about it when we all split up.” Glimmer confirmed. “She figured it out and said we had to come clean and destroy it. Then she got hit...”

“Light Hope didn’t want Catra to kill her by breaking the disc.” Bow finished. “She took control of the castle and tried to save herself.”

“That’s why we kept seeing her in reflections, why she cut out the communications.” Glimmer said, looking at the floor. 

“You saw her too... So that’s why you made up that ghost story.” Adora said sharply. Glimmer nodded. “There was no ghost. You just wanted me to be distracted long enough to figure it out without me. Behind my back. Again.”

“That explains why we were stuck in that closet.” Abner realized. “She was probably trying to reach out to you, but wanted to isolate you from Catra and Glimmer so she could take them out without harming you.” Catra moaned softly and shifted her head while everyone else spoke around her.

“Those voices I recognized.” Adora said to Abner. “I get it now. She was replaying my memories. It was me and Catra when we were kids. All of the visions and illusions were all just based on my memories.” She explained. “That’s why it looked like...”

“Shadow Weaver.” Angella said grimly. 

“Classic red herring.” Bow said softly. 

Catra groaned and blinked several times as she awoke. All the attention turned to her as she woke up, putting a hold on the conversation.

“Uuughh, I feel like my head is in a vice...” she complained. Then she reached up to her head and felt the concussion brace helmet stabilizer and her eyes went wide. “Aw crap, my head _ is _ in a vice!” She said with more worry as she woke up more, eyes wide. She looked around the room, and her eyes landed on Glimmer, who looked like a kicked puppy.

“You!” She called, pointing to Glimmer. Glimmer took half a step closer and Catra grabbed her shirt collar with her good hand, pulling her down closer. “Where the  _ hell _ is it!” She demanded. 

“Right here.” Adora said, holding up the square. Catra saw it, then became confused, her eyes wide. 

“You know?”

“Yes, everybody knows now,” Glimmer said, still being held by the shirt. “They know everything.” Catra finally released Glimmer and leaned back down in her bed. With her good hand she rubbed down her own face in stress. 

“Shit.” She said quietly. 

“Yeah.” Adora agreed. She wasn’t going to hold back, these two had really messed up. It was at her expense as well as everyone else in the castle. She would forgive them eventually. 

“So what are you going to do with it?” Catra asked plainly. 

“Huh?”

“I mean, clearly we can’t keep it in a drawer without the whole place getting haunted.” Catra explained. “So your only options are to either destroy it, or return it to the temple.”

Adora looked down at the square crystal in her hands. She hadn’t considered that. It was an enormous decision, one that would affect the rest of her life as She-Ra. Mara had destroyed every link to the First Ones on the planet. All of them except for Light Hope. She may still have answers yet as to where Adora came from, her family, her destiny...

The Queen cleared her throat and everyone looked up. 

“Right.” She started. “Well I think we should give you three some time to talk. We’ll leave you alone.” She turned to leave the room, and Abner dutifully followed after her. Bow gave a reassuring smile to each of them in turn, before he left the room as well. 

For a minute they sat in silence. Catra lay in bed, Glimmer sitting on the edge, and Adora on a stool while she stared at the data crystal, unsure of what to do. 

“Adora I.. am so, so sorry.” Glimmer said. “I was only trying to help but... it made everything worse. And it was all for nothing.” Her voice cracked. 

“It... wasn’t for nothing. Necessarily.” Adora said after some contemplation. They looked up at her curiously. Adora sighed as she stared at the Light Hope crystal she held. “You wanted to convince me that this was real and I wasn’t still stuck in a simulation in the temple.” She explained. “And... now I know.”

“You... you do?” Glimmer asked hopefully. Even Catra seemed surprised. 

“Just holding this crystal, knowing that this is her... it really is her. I just know.” She explained, rubbing her thumb down the grooves of writing that only she could decipher. “It’s the same as the First Ones magic and the runes. It’s like its humming with magic, and I can hear it, I can feel it. Just like with the sword, or the runes... It’s real. This is _her_.” She looked out the window at the setting day moon. “And if she’s here then... that means... I can’t be in the temple. I really did make it out. I actually escaped...” She sounded surprised at her own conclusion, as though this were the first time that she had considered it. Then the tears started to fall down her own cheeks as she realized.

“I... I’m so sorry...” Adora choked quietly, shaking. “I’m so sorry, I never believed you, I kept thinking that... and I almost died but I... I’m sorry I didn’t--” Glimmer grabbed her hand and pulled her up to her and Catra, and hugged her girlfriend as Catra awkwardly patted Adora’s back with her good arm. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t believe it, I couldn’t...”

“I know, Adora. It’s okay.” Glimmer comforted. 

She eventually calmed down, sandwiched in the arms of the two people she cared about more than anything. It took a while to realize she was safe, she was free.

No hard feelings when they were all so squishy. 

Catra felt bad for taking it. Glimmer felt bad for hiding it. And Adora felt bad for not believing them sooner. Adora looked at the disk again, holding it gently, considering Catra’s question. 

She looked out the window in deep, troubling thought. She stood up and pocketed the crystal in her jacket. 

“You’re going to return it, aren’t you?” Catra asked. 

“I still don’t know.” Adora said. “I really have no idea.”

“We’ll support you, no matter what.” Glimmer said. 

“I think I might just need some time to think about it.” Adora said. “I guess I have a big decision to make.”

Adora left to go for a long walk. She had a lot weighing on her mind.

She was trying so hard to not be like Mara. She destroyed every tie to the First Ones in her anger, leaving Etheria in ruins. All that was left was Light Hope. She may still have answers, about the First Ones, She-Ra... Her family. Where she came from. Maybe even another event where they needed info on the First Ones to save her life like that virus that related to her own race. 

She didn't know her parents. Her family, her people, her culture. 

But Catra was raised the same way, in the dark and unwanted. It never seemed to bother them before, Catra seemed like she couldn’t care less about her family. She would probably never be able to get those answers. It seemed unfair, leaving a sour taste in her mouth. Should she learn something from Catra's stalwart example?

Besides, even if she knew, who was to say it wouldn’t make things worse? She could find out that her family had rejected her. She may long for something that she can never obtain. And why would she care, when she had made her own family here. She had Glimmer by her side, Catra was back, Bow, Angella, the whole alliance... Was Light Hope a part of that family? 

She had never... ended someone so intentionally and decisively before. She had hurt people before but never lethally... did she have it in her to hold Light Hope’s core in her hands, when she was helpless to defend herself, and end her in one swift move?

It felt so... permanent. Which her anxiety didn’t take well. At least if she restored Light Hope, she could always go back and destroy the crystal later. But how would she face her after what had happened? Not only was she tortured for weeks with no input, trapped in her own mind, but then she turned against her friends. She hurt them, her real family. Even if it was unintentional or self-defense... Adora wasn’t going to forgive her so easily. Maybe she never would. 

Adora found herself sitting on a bench, facing the Whispering Woods. She thumbed over the engravings on the crystal again, feeling an odd sense of fondness for the comfort of cool crystal and smooth glyphs. The decision still weighed back and forth in her mind. She wanted to do the right thing. But this time it was more subjective than good versus evil. There was no right or wrong answer. 

She knew what she should do. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> ooooOOOH AMBIGUOUS ENDING  
> What's she gonna do?  
> We don't know!
> 
> ALSO. I am going to put a quick little freeze on posting for a while. But for the very best of reasons! I am going to propose to my SO on Monday. 
> 
> They read my fic! But they are also considerably behind. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) So, babe, when you see this in a few days: I love you and I want to tell the world how amazing you are. Also please move the pillow over please. xoxoxo.
> 
> ANyway! Catra and Glimmer learning better about working together, huh? There's a reason that Catra went to Glimmer for help, and it wasn't just for the teleportation. 
> 
> Now that they're all back to it at the end of this, we can start looking at moving forward on Catra's plans. 
> 
> See you in a few days! Nobody squeal my secret on me!


End file.
